Adjustable oscillatory amusement device



Jan. 23, 1968 WA. STRICKLAND, JR 3, 5

ADJUSTABLE OSCILLATORY AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed April 16. 1965 E I-Za 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 L "lh Ink/9 INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. STRICKLAND.JR.

ATTORNEY Jan. 23, 1968 w. A. STRICKLAND, JR 3,365,194

ADJUSTABLE OSCILLATORY AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed April 16, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 32 V 27a $15; 50 Zia i 27b Z? A? g s %5 E 25/ a Y Z INVENTOR.

. ATTORNEY WILLIAM A. STRICKLAND. JR.

Jan. 23, 1968 w. A. STRICKLAND, JR 3,

ADJUSTABLE OSCILLATORY AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed April 16, 1965 s Sheets-Shet s I INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. STRICKLAND.JR.

ATTORN E Y atent 3,365,194 Patented Jan. 23, 1968 dice 3,365,194 ADJUSTABLE OSCILLATORY AMUSEMENT DEVICE Wiiliam A. Strickland, In, 4653 Shady Lane Court, Columbus, Ohio 43227 Filed Apr. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 448,745 8 Claims. (Cl. 272-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An occupant propelled oscillatory amusement apparatus having an upright pole rotatably and adjustably received within an anchored helical spring to vary the elasticity of the supporting arrangement to compensate for varying occupant weights.

This invention is concerned with a recreational device or, more articularly, a toy for children.

Young children are attracted to toys which they can mount or ride and which permits them to bounce up and down, swing back and forth, or both. One such toy which is typical of those of interest here is described by Grosse and Barnes in US. Patent No. 2,996,298 issued Aug. 15, 1961. This latter toy consists of a hobby horse (or other support for the child), a base member, and a spring which extends upwardly from the base member and which supports the hobby horse. The child using such a toy, by shifting or otherwise manipulating his weight, can cause himself to oscillate up and down and, to some extent, to rock back and forth.

The toys of this type described heretofore present several disadvantages which limit their usefulness.

One such disadvantage is that the length of swing, or the distance of side to side movement of the child support, is quite limited either by the use of a cumbersome support or by the bendability of the spring. The spring is, of necessity, designed for the heaviest child likely to use the device. For example, if the spring were designed to permit a child of 120 pounds to swing through an arc of 60 degrees, the swing of a child of 60 pounds would be limited to a much smaller are. On the other hand, if the spring were considerably lighter; that is, if it were designed for a very light child; a heavy child might bend the spring parallel to the ground and then stay in that position, the spring lacking sufiicient resiliency to return to its normal upright position.

Another such disadvantage of the toys of the type described heretofore, particularly for older boys, is that they do not impart to the child any sense of apprehension or bravado.

Objects It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a new toy.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a toy of the type described above which permits of facile and rapid adjustment to the weight of the child so that all children, regardless of their individual Weights, can manipulate the toy equally well.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a toy which, although safe for use, is adaptable for alteration to impart to older children an increased sense of apprehension and bravado.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a toy of the character described which is capable of rocking back and forth in a vertical plane or of swinging in a circle in a substantially horizontal plane.

In the drawings:

My invention can be better understood by consideration of specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of one embodiment of the toy of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation, and somewhat enlarged, of a portion of the structure of FIG. 1 showing a means of rotatably securing the pole coaxially in the spring;

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section, and somewhat enlarged, of the base portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view, in side elevation, illustrating a position of the pole relative to the spring which would be suitable for a relatively heavy child;

FIG. 5 is a view, in side elevation, illustrating a second position of the pole relative to the spring which would be suitable for a relatively light child;

FIG. 6 is a view, in vertical section, illustrating another or an additional means for adjusting the structure to the weight of the child;

FIG. 7 is a View, in perspective, of a preferred base member for the toy of the invention differing from the base member of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a view in vertical section, of the preferred base member taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an elevation view, showing alternative positions partly in phantom, of the toy of the invention and illustrating motion in a vertical plane;

FIG. 10 is a plan view, showing alternative positions partly in phantom, of the toy of the invention illustrating motion in a horizontal plane; and

FIG. 11 is a view in side elevation of a segment of an alternative embodiment of my invention having lugs to support the weight of the child.

Detailed description- With more specific references to the drawings a spring 10, vertically extending when the toy is not in use, is attached to a base member 11 by metal straps 12 and bolts 13 (as shown in FIG. 3), by directly welding the spring to a metal base plate as shown at 14 (in FIG. 7), by welding a metal strap 12 to a metal base plate 11 as shown at 15 (in FIG. 7), or by combination of such means. The base member 11 may be a concrete pillar set in the ground 16 (FIG. 3) or preferably a metal structure, shown in FIG. 7, to be described more fully later; but may be any suitable member for tightly securing the bottom of the spring 10 in a fixed position.

A pole 17 is inserted part way into and coaxially with the spring 10, said pole being rotatably fixed to the spring by the clamping member 18, the latter being, for example, welded to the pole 17, as shown in FIG. 2. A child support member, or seat 19, is fixed to the top of the pole 17 and a hand grip 20 is fixed to the seat 19 by means of the shaft 21. In an alternative embodiment (not shown) the shaft 21 passes through a hole in the seat 19 and is attached to the pole 17. Similarly, the seat 19 can be replaced by a pair of oppositely disposed, horizontally extending lugs such as 30 upon which a child can stand as shown in FIG. 11.

The pole 17, seat 19, shaft 21, and hand grip 20, may be made of metal, wood, plastic, or any suitable material. Spring 10, and straps 12 are made preferably of metal. The length of the pole 17, and therefore the height of the seat 19, may be quite variable but a seat height of about 4 to 6 feet appears most desirable.

a The pole 17 may be a unitary structure or may consist, as shown in detail in FIG. 6, of an upper pole section or pipe 22 telescoped into a lower pole section or pipe 23. The upper pole section 22 is attached to the underside of the seat 19 in any suitable manner such as by the angle braces 24, and screws 25, 26. The lower pole section 23 is provided with a pair of oppositely disposed holes 27a and 27b and the upper pole section 22 is provided with a plurality of oppositely disposed holes such as holes 28a,

28b; holes 29a, 2912; etc. A pin 30 is inserted through holes 27a and 27b in pole section 23 and through a pair of oppositely disposed holes 28a and 28b (as shown in FIG. 6) in pole section 22.

A preferred base member 11 is illustrated in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 and comprises a metal plate 31 to which the spring may be welded (as at 14) and to which securing straps 12 may be welded (as at The metal plate 31 is provided with a hole near each corner such as the hole 32. A triangular plate 33 provided with a perpendicularly positioned angle iron extension 34 and also provided with a hole 35, overlies each corner of the metal plate 31 in a manner such that hole 35 in the triangular plate 33 is coaxial with the threaded hole 32 in the metal plate 31. Screw 36 is threadedly engaged with metal plate 31. Usu ally the base member 11 is assembled as shown in FIG. 7, is positioned so that the plate member 31 is parallel to the ground, and the angle iron extensions 34 are then driven into the ground while maintaining a vertical position for the spring 10.

Operation The child adjusts the toy to his particular weight by rotating the pole 17 in the spring 10. Rotation of the pole 17 causes the clamping device 18 to slide over the coils of the spring to either raise or lower the pole as the case may be. The child may have to experiment with the toy at a few different heights in order to establish the best height for him. If, upon an experimental setting of the pole relative to the spring (as in FIG. 4, for example), the child finds it difficult to swing himself through an arc of substantially 180 degrees he can dismount and rotate the pole (counterclockwise, looking down from the top) in a manner to raise the pole vertically; that is, to space the bottom end of the pole further from the bottom of the spring. This results in the engagement by the pole of fewer coils of the spring leaving a greater number of the coils free to bend (as in FIG. 5, for example). The child will then find it much easier to swing himself through larger arcs.

If, upon an experimental setting of the pole relative to the spring, the child finds that he can swing himself through an arc of 180 degrees with great ease but that the spring does not appear to be resilient enough to set up a vibrant oscillation the above described process can be reversed. In this latter instance the pole is rotated clockwise. This results in the bottom end of the pole being spaced a smaller distance from the bottom of the spring and therefore results in the pole engaging a larger number of coils of the spring leaving fewer coils to bend.

When the toy has been properly adjusted, as described, the child can climb into the seat 19, using the coils of the spring 10 as steps (if necessary); grasp the handle, shift his weight forward or backward; and set up an oscillation which can swing him, for example, from the ground on one side of the toy to the ground on the other side of the toy, or through an arc of substantially 180 degrees in a vertical plane (as shown in FIG. 9). As he swings he can, of course, shift his weight to one side and traverse any of the infinite number of vertical planes which pass through the pole when the latter is in its vertical position. Similarly, the child can shift his weight to swing in a horizontal plane (as shown in FIG. 10).

In the additional method of adjusting the toy to the weight of the child shown in FIG. 6 the child who finds difiiculty in swinging through a wide arc can dismount, re-

4. move pin 30, raise pipe 22, and reinsert pin 30, into a pair of juxtaposed openings in pipes 22 and 23. In this manner the child has lengthened the moment arm of the seat,

and his moment arm, and therefore the childs weight is more effective in the bending of the spring. Similarly, a heavy child could reverse the foregoing procedure, lower pipe 22 and effectively shorten his moment arm.

Thus my device is adjustable to the weight of the child in a manner such that children, regardless of their individual weights, can secure equal enjoyment therefrom. Further, it has been observed that the wide arc oscillatory motion, particularly as the child approaches the ground face down, imparts a feeling to him of both apprehension and bravado. The provision for longer lengths for the pole, the provision for swinging through substantially degrees for children of considerable disparity of weights, and thus the provision for imparting an increasing sense of apprehension and bravado as a child gets older lends considerable versatility to the toy of my invention.

The spring used in the toy of the invention is preferably a heavy one of low compressibility to coaxially directed forces. Thus when a child puts his weight downward on the spring there will be only a slight degree of compression. However, the spring should be light enough to permit of its bending (as in FIGS. 4 and 5) by the weight of the child. For example, I have used a spring made of coiled stock where the internal diameter of the coil was 4 inches, and the pitch of the coils was 1 7 inches. The pole used with this particular spring was a 4 inch diameter metal pipe. It will be apparent that since the pole 17 can be a hollow pipe as well as a solid rod-like pole, that the pole can be coaxially fixed over the outside of the spring 10 as well as being inserted into the spring.

It is to be understood that while the above specifically described structures constitute preferred embodiments of my invention, the structures are for purposes of illustration only and that my invention is not limited to the precise form disclosed and various changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A childs toy comprising:

(1) a vertically extending helical spring;

(2) means for securing said spring to a fixable base member;

(3) a vertically extending pole coaxially secured to said spring;

(4) occupant support means mounted on said pole;

and

(5) means rotatably securing said pole to said spring to allow said pole to move longitudinally with respect to said spring when said pole is rotated.

2. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said support means is a seat mounted on the top of said pole.

3. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said support means comprises a pair of oppositely disposed horizontally extending lugs upon which a child can stand.

4. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said support means includes hand grips.

5. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said pole comprises two telescopically engaged upper and lower pipe sections, the upper section being secured to said support means and the lower section being secured to said spring; said pipe sections being adjustable telescopically to change the effective length of said pole.

6. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said pole is inserted coaxially into said spring.

7. The toy according to claim 1 wherein said fixable base member comprises a flat plate and means for fixing said plate to the ground, said fixing means comprising metal extensions extending perpendicularly from said plate and said extensions being adapted to be driven into the ground.

8. A child's toy comprising:

(1) a vertically extending helical spring;

5 (2) a fixabie base member comprising a fiat plate and References Cited means for fixing said plate to the ground, said fixing UNITED STATES PATENTS means comprising metal extensions extending perpendicularly from said plate and said extensions being 198,923 8/1964 Mltcheuadapted to be driven into the ground; 5 g i 53;; g- 53 (3) means for securing 581d spring to said base mem- 2949298 8/1960 speelman "Dunn";

her;

(4) a vertlcally extending pole inserted coaxially into ANTON 0' OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

and rotatably secured to said spring; and

(5) seat support means whereby said pole upon the 10 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Examiner.

shifting of the center of gravity of an occupant, can swing in Wide arcs in vertical and horizontal planes. PAGE Asmmm Examme'l' 

